Mount Pulaski unsatisfied with win over Cerro Gordo

Saturday

The Mount Pulaski boys basketball team dominated most of Friday night's 55-46 home victory over Cerro Gordo.

But the Toppers would prefer to forget how it ended.

Mount Pulaski (4-2) earned its largest lead 52-32 at the start of the fourth quarter. Then, things got sloppy.

The Toppers shot 3 for 10 and missed all five free throw attempts in the fourth quarter to give the Broncos a chance to get back into the game. However, Cerro Gordo could not capitalize.

"We did alright in the first half. But then in the second half, we kind of let off the gas," Mount Pulaski junior forward Lukas Aylesworth said. "We need to work on our will to close out games and finish strong."

The Toppers ran away with the game in the first half.

Sophomore guard Gezus Oliver sparked a 14-0 run beginning in the first quarter and Mount Pulaski led 27-10 with five minutes left in the second quarter.

Oliver scored all of his 12 points in the first half, making 5 of 6 shot attempts.

Cerro Gordo, meanwhile, struggled with the press and 1-2-2 zone defense. It coughed up 18 turnovers in the game.

"We just focused on attacking the rim and pressuring them," Oliver said. "We were trying to intimidate them, but we kind of let that go in the second half. We kind of eased up. We needed to keep attacking and attacking."

"We got to play better in our next game. We can't ease up on defense."

Mount Pulaski shot 20 for 45 (44 percent) from the floor, while Cerro Gordo went 16 for 35 (46 percent).

Senior guards Frankie Foran and Joe Tenney led the Broncos with 15 and 13 points, respectively.

"We were able to open it up a little bit in the second quarter and then we allowed them to chip back into it," Mount Pulaski coach Ryan Deibert said. "The challenge for them at the half was, 'We're up by 17, let's bury them. I want this over by the end of the third quarter.' We did the complete opposite."

Deibert said if anything, they played well in spurts.

Mount Pulaski next hosts South Fork 7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 11.

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